Dear Jessica Brennan,

I have often told you that being normal is highly overrated.  Normal conjures up, for me, a sense of being invisible.  Walking a line, in line with everyone else.

I still believe that normal is pretty overrated, don’t get me wrong.  But there are some things that are normal, that I have found to be a good idea.

Your vital signs should be normal. This is a good place to start.   I don’t just mean your heart and blood and breathing and temperature; although I do mean these too.  But, I also mean your emotional vital signs. If you’re a walking mess, or if you don’t feel anything at all, you don’t have normal emotional vital signs.

The state of your house should be normal.  Being able to eat off the floor is not normal, but neither is a constant mess. Normal jobs can be good.  They tend to be normal because they are necessary. Normal habits like going for a check-up and being on time for appointments is good, and normal.

However, creativity should never be normal. It should be enough yours that it is all you. Whether it is how you do your hair, pot a plant, paint a wall or craft a good friendship. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it must be unique and personal and vibrantly un-normal. This is where normal is overrated.

Just be you.

Love, 

Mum xo